The new report found total credit card balances hit $1.13 trillion by the end of December, the highest credit card balance since at least 2003 and a 4.6 percent increase from the third quarter of 2023.
Total household debt increased by $212 billion during the fourth quarter, bringing the total to $17.5 trillion, according to The Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
Auto loan balances also increased by $12 billion to $1.61 trillion.
And
3.1 percent of outstanding debt was “in some stage of delinquency at the end of December,” according to the agency’s press release.
“Credit card and auto loan transitions into delinquency are still rising above pre-pandemic levels,” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, economic research adviser at the New York Fed, in a statement. “This signals increased financial stress, especially among younger and lower-income households.”
Around 8.5 percent of annualized credit card balances and 7.7 percent of annualized auto loan balances transitioned into delinquency by the end of the fourth quarter, according to the press release, which noted younger borrowers were notably surpassing pre-pandemic levels of credit card debt.
The Hill’s Lauren Sforza has more here.
